The Conservation Biology Group at the University of Barcelona presents its guidelines for the protection of Bonelliʼs eagle

From left to right, Àlex Rollan, Joan Real and Antonio Hernández Matías, the authors of the <i>Guidelines for the Conservation of Bonelli's Eagle Populations</i>.
From left to right, Àlex Rollan, Joan Real and Antonio Hernández Matías, the authors of the Guidelines for the Conservation of Bonelli's Eagle Populations.
Research
(01/03/2016)

The Guidelines for the Conservation of Bonelli's Eagle Populations have been drawn up by the Conservation Biology Group associated to the Department of Animal Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute at the University of Barcelona (IRBio). These new guidelines are one of the main results of the project “The Viability of the Population of Bonelli's Eagle in Catalonia: Guidelines for Conservation” carried out by the UBʼs Conservation Biology Group together with the Swiss foundation MAVA and the Regional Government of Barcelona. The main aim of this project is to establish conservation goals to ensure the population viability of Bonelli's Eagle in Catalonia.

From left to right, Àlex Rollan, Joan Real and Antonio Hernández Matías, the authors of the <i>Guidelines for the Conservation of Bonelli's Eagle Populations</i>.
From left to right, Àlex Rollan, Joan Real and Antonio Hernández Matías, the authors of the Guidelines for the Conservation of Bonelli's Eagle Populations.
Research
01/03/2016

The Guidelines for the Conservation of Bonelli's Eagle Populations have been drawn up by the Conservation Biology Group associated to the Department of Animal Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute at the University of Barcelona (IRBio). These new guidelines are one of the main results of the project “The Viability of the Population of Bonelli's Eagle in Catalonia: Guidelines for Conservation” carried out by the UBʼs Conservation Biology Group together with the Swiss foundation MAVA and the Regional Government of Barcelona. The main aim of this project is to establish conservation goals to ensure the population viability of Bonelli's Eagle in Catalonia.

An endangered species in Europe

 

Since 1980, the Conservation Biology Group at the University of Barcelona has been a benchmark for research into the ecology of Bonelli's eagle (Aquila fasciata) and in providing solutions for improving its conservation. Bonelli's eagle was named in honour of the Italian ornithologist Franco Andrea Bonelli, who first documented this species in 1819.

 

Currently, about 80% of the European populations are found on the Iberian Peninsula. In Catalonia, the population of Bonelli's eagle plummeted in the 1980s and 90s when it reached a historic low; but in recent years the population has stabilised and colonisation has been seen in some areas. Although there are healthy populations of this eagle in the south of the peninsula, in the central and northern areas some groups of the species are in danger of disappearing.

 

Guidelines for improving the management of an endangered species

 

These new guidelines offer professionals, naturalists, those who work in species management, and other interested parties, a practical tool for properly managing the species -considered to be endangered in Europe- in their various spheres of activity (local, municipal, protected areas or regions), as well as improving the conservation status of populations.

 

The results of the project “The Viability of the Population of Bonelli's Eagle in Catalonia: Guidelines for Conservation”, which was launched in 2014 with funding from the Swiss foundation MAVA, were presented on Thursday, 3 March, at the UBʼs Faculty of Biology with the participation of Gustavo A. Llorente, Dean of the Faculty of Biology at the UB, Enrique I. Canela, Vice Rector of Scientific Policy at the UB, Ferran Miralles, Director General of Environmental Policy, Jesus Calderer, Assistant Deputy for Natural Areas, and Joan Real, Director of the Conservation Biology Group of the UB.

 

Please, see the video.